


A Matter of Pride

by gunslingaaahhh



Series: Shifter!AU [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Lay Your Weapons Down, M/M, shifter!AU, time-stamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-04
Updated: 2011-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-26 22:17:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/288494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gunslingaaahhh/pseuds/gunslingaaahhh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><span><a href="http://simplyn2deep.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://simplyn2deep.livejournal.com/"><b>simplyn2deep</b></a></span> requested a time-stamp from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/269152">Lay Your Weapons Down</a> (shifter!AU): <i>shifter!Danny and he happens to come across another shifter on his "territory."</i></p><p>Sometime after the first story; Danny and Steve are officially a couple.</p>
    </blockquote>





	A Matter of Pride

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://simplyn2deep.livejournal.com/profile)[**simplyn2deep**](http://simplyn2deep.livejournal.com/) requested a time-stamp from [Lay Your Weapons Down](http://archiveofourown.org/works/269152) (shifter!AU): _shifter!Danny and he happens to come across another shifter on his "territory."_
> 
> Sometime after the first story; Danny and Steve are officially a couple.

“Steven!” Danny barked, hackles up. “The fuck are you doing?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing? The guy's bleeding, I'm trying to keep him from bleeding out and I'm using my shirt as a bandage,” Steve replied, voice level and entirely too sane.

“I have a first aid kit in the car,” Danny growled, hands balled into fists at his sides.

“This was faster.”

Before Danny could adequately reply, the ambulance arrived and the EMTs jumped out to help. This is what Danny had feared would happen, Steve shirtless when they got to the scene.

It was always the same EMTs, every time. He knew there was a reason, of course, he just couldn't figure out how she was swinging it.

She being the female EMT and fellow shifter. Her name was Iolana, and Danny hated her. Unlike him, she was native to the islands and her repertoire of shapes was lengthy, covering a variety of species and giving her the ability to shift during the day without anyone being the wiser.

Danny was pretty sure he'd smelled her skulking around outside of the McGarrett house, but he couldn't be sure.

“You guys ok?” she asked, taking over for Steve and inspecting their perp's injuries.

“Fine; guy tried to run. When will they learn that running doesn't work?” Steve joked, folding his arms across his chest, causing the muscle there to flex nicely.

“They must like the chase,” Iolana grinned, winking at Steve and causing him to laugh. Danny growled low in his throat; Steve wouldn't be able to hear him, but Iolana certainly would. She flicked glance in his direction before turning her attention back to Steve.

“This guy should be fine,” she said, standing and allowing the men from her team to hoist the guy into the back of the ambulance. “Glad to see you came out unscathed, Commander.”

Steve smiled at her, a bright and dazzling one. “I try; catch you later!”

Iolana got back into the ambulance and took off, leaving Steve and Danny standing in the middle of the parking lot. The Camaro was a few blocks over – of course – so Steve would have to walk back shirtless. He didn't seem to mind.

Danny tried very hard not to just kill Steve right then and there.

~*~

At first, Danny had been sure there weren't any other shifters on Oahu; one can always sense their own, and he hadn't smelled or heard anything to alert him to their being any others. He didn't mind that, of course; in the event there _was_ another shifter, and that person was female, they would probably try and mate with him, while a male would just battle him for territory.

A female shifter procreating with a ordinary male was half as likely to produce daughters that shifted, and not at all likely to produce sons that shifted. A female shifter procreating with a male shifter? Guaranteed any female offspring would be shifters, and there was a 50/50 chance the males produced would also shift. Danny's father hadn't been a shifter, but his mother had very strong genes, which was why the majority of his siblings were like him.

Iolana was the first female shifter Danny had met that didn't want to mate with him. And ok, that sounds sort of self-centered, but it wasn't his fault.

Iolana wanted to fight Danny for territory.

The territory was Steve.

Danny refused to let that happen.

Steve was oblivious to all this, of course. Iolana let off pheromones that made him more likely to flirt and smile when she was around, the sorts of chemicals Danny's body couldn't produce. If Danny had his way, he'd just shift into the Bob Cat or something and tear Iolana to pieces; however, he was still a cop and a human being, and such behavior was frowned upon.

Really, the person who had to make the choice was Steve, and while Danny should've been secure in their relationship, he couldn't help but be paranoid.

What kept him from going completely mental was the fact that he'd managed to get and keep Steve without the use of pheromones or hormones or any of the rest of it; Steve was with him because Steve loved him.

It was difficult to remember that when the beautiful Iolana was around, though.

~*~

“What's _she_ doing here?” Danny hissed into Kono's ear, barely refraining from gnashing his teeth.

Kono frowned. “She? She who?”

“Over there, look,” Danny nudged her elbow, and Kono discreetly looked over her shoulder. Iolana was laughing and chatting with one of the governor's men.

“You mean Iolana? She's technically employed by the city, just like we're technically employed by the state,” Kono murmured into her wine glass. “There're other EMTs here, too.”

Danny growled, eyes narrowed to slits as he watched Iolana work the room. Kono watched him, eyes darting back and forth before she gasped a little.

“She's the one you were telling me about?” she whispered, brows furrowing. “I had no idea she was a shifter!”

“Keep your voice down! And yes, she's the one. It's like as soon as she saw me and Steve, she tried to make her move.”

“Make her move? What, like take him away from you?” Kono asked, brows raised. “Are you an idiot? I mean seriously: Boss really cares about you, Danny. He isn't just gonna stop being with you because some, some she-wolf farted a few chemicals in his direction.”

Of course Danny would choose that moment to take a sip of his wine, nearly choking on it in an effort not to spit it out. He knew Kono was right, of course, but logic tended to take the backseat to one's primal senses.

Uncaring of who might see them, Danny reached over under the table and took Steve's hand in his; Steve was chatting happily with a few Navy guys over from Pearl and was oblivious to Danny's turmoil. He squeezed Danny's fingers in his own beneath the table linen.

“Good evening, friends!” Iolana said as she strolled over, giving everyone at their table – Chin and Malia, Kono and Charlie, Max and Lori, Steve and Danny – a bright smile. Danny growled and tightened his grip on Steve's hand.

Steve, who had turned to acknowledge the greeting, grinned up at Iolana as she came around the table to say hello to him more easily. He missed the way Kono's stiletto managed to catch the edge of Iolana's dress and trip her somewhat; Danny didn't miss a thing.

He loved that his team had accepted his secret and were willing to help him keep it; he loved more that they were 100% on his side when it came to things of this nature.

“Commander, it's a shame you don't get to wear that uniform more often,” Iolana said, trailing a hand over Steve's shoulder.

“Eh, not exactly the most comfortable thing to wear in this weather,” Steve grinned, turning his body so he was facing her. Danny grit his teeth.

“I'm sure you prefer your state of dress from the other day,” she replied, winking. Steve chuckled, shaking his head.

“I might, but Danny doesn't,” Steve said, reaching up to give Danny's shoulder a squeeze. Iolana watched them with a critical eye, seeming to size Danny up before shrugging.

“He clearly doesn't know what he's missing,” she said, moving away from the table and blowing kisses before she left.

“I hate her, I hate her so much,” Danny mumbled into his wine and not meeting Steve's questioning glance.

~*~

“So I think I know what the problem is,” Kono said by way of greeting as she sauntered into Danny's office.

“Yeah?” Danny replied, leaning back in his chair.

“Mmhm. I was doing a little research, and I _think_ the reason Iolana isn't taking the hint is because you haven't actually staked your claim to Steve.”

Spluttering, Danny waved his arms, trying to find words but unable to do so for a moment. “Staked my—what are you talking about?!”

Kono rolled her eyes. “Please don't tell me I know more about shifters than you do! Ok, if Iolana were a guy and you two met, what would happen?”

“Uh, well usually unless it's two male shifters from the same family, they fight for control of the territory... sort of like lions, if that makes sense. A pride only has one dominant male, and they run the territory. If another male shows up and tries to challenge the first, they fight or whatever and whoever wins gets control. Of course, we aren't African predators, so in my case it'd be more of a 'you stay off my turf, I'll stay off yours' sort of thing.”

“And if a female wandered into your territory? And let's say there's no Steve or anything like that in this scenario.”

Danny scratched at his chin. “The majority of the time, a single female shifter is out looking for the ever-elusive male shifter. We are few and far between, as I've explained to you before; two shifter parents means that the chances of the kids being shifters are greater than if only the mom is a shifter. Especially if sons are concerned.”

“Right, so in Iolana's case, this isn't about wanting to have kids with you, it's about staking her claim on your territory, like a male.”

“I don't really have 'turf,' though, I live with Steve now, remember?”

Kono stared at him. “Danny... Steve _is_ the turf.”

“I am aware of that, thank you! I'm just saying, usually people aren't the territory; y'know that annoying habit male dogs and cats have of, uh, scent-marking? Y'know, spraying? Shifters sort of do the same thing, except less disgusting. But you only ever scent-mark a _place_.”

“But you could mark a person, right?”

“... I suppose.”

“And the marking, be it scent or not, would tell other shifters what's what, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Sooo I'm thinking you need to mark Steve somehow, I mean _really_ mark him. Make it completely obvious to Iolana and whoever else that he is yours. He isn't marked, and that's probably why Iolana thinks he's fair game.”

Danny didn't have anything to say to that, and he realized Kono was probably right. He just hated the idea of thinking of Steve as _property_ , but if somehow marking him would make Iolana leave them alone, then he'd have to do it. The only question was how.

~*~

“Babe? Can we talk?”

Steve was laying out on the beach behind the house, drying off from his swim in the sun. He scooted over on the towel to make room for Danny, who hesitantly sat beside him.

“What's up, Danno?”

“I, uh... I need to tell you something.”

“... ok...” Steve looked a little nervous now, and Danny hated that he had to make him feel that way.

“Ok, so it's probably going to sound completely ridiculous, but uh, I need to... um... I need to mark you.”

“... huh?”

Danny squeezed his eyes shut and scrubbed at his face. “Mark you... as being mine.”

“Yours.”

“Mmhm.”

Steve didn't say anything else, just turned and stared at the ocean. Danny couldn't tell what he was thinking, and he hoped he didn't just mess everything up.

“How d'you mean? What would I have to do?” he said then, refocusing his attention on Danny.

“Um, I'm not sure, but I was reading that the best way to mark a, a _mate_ as being off the market is to actually... uh... mate with them.”

“You mean have sex.”

“Y-yeah.”

“I thought you weren't ready?” Steve asked, brows furrowing. “Why all of a sudden?”

“It's that fucking Iolana! She's a shifter, ok, native to the islands. She hangs around here sometimes as a bird of paradise or whatever. I can smell her; I know you don't notice her, but I do and she's trying to make a move on you.”

Steve chuckled. “Make a move on me? I think it's pretty obvious I'm unavailable.”

“You don't get it,” Danny shook his head. “This isn't a human thing, it's a shifter thing. It's about the animal underneath, the primal instinct to mark and guard one's territory. Technically, she shouldn't even be hanging out here, since I live here and that makes it my turf. That's my own fault, I'll take care of that. The point is, there is nothing on you that clearly states you aren't up for grabs, so as far as she's concerned, you're available.”

“Ok but... why would she want me? I thought girl shifters were on the lookout for boy shifters. If anything, she should be moving in on _you_.”

Sighing, Danny flopped onto his back in the sand. “In a world that made sense, yes. This isn't about procreating, though, because if it was she _would_ be trying to get her hands on me. No, this is a property thing, and it makes me sick to think of you like that but... there it is.”

Steve moved to lay beside Danny, curling against him. “Alright, so clearly we need to have sex or something... though, don't the blowjobs count? That's still sex.”

“Uh... no, because actual intercourse involves, um, musk. Once we've done it, my scent will be on you, and even though you won't be able to smell it, Iolana and any other shifters will. It'll be like a neon sign saying 'no vacancy.”

“Hmm. I'm assuming I need to bottom, then.”

“Probably.”

“Huh.”

“This is the most unsexy conversation I have ever had, I think.” Danny grimaced, rubbing at his eyes. “I'd wanted to wait until we were both ready, I dont want to make you do anything you don't want to do.”

Steve kissed Danny's shoulder, grinning a little. “I've been ready for a while, Danny, I was just waiting for you. You just need to understand: I don't care what Iolana or anyone else says or does: I'm with _you_. No amount of weird hormones or animal weirdness is going to change that.”

Love swelled in Danny's chest, curling his body towards Steve and kissing him into breathless giggles.

~*~

Since Steve had been wanting to have sex for a while, Danny wasn't shocked to find out that he'd been privately preparing himself for the moment for weeks. As it was, Danny had to do very little prep to open Steve up for him, the other man purring with delight when Danny lightly fingered him.

He slid home, Steve arching up into him and clinging, long legs wrapping around Danny's hips and holding them together. It felt incredible, and the primal, animal part of Danny's brain took over, fucking into Steve over and over.

Steve did all he could to hold on, moaning loudly as pleasure rolled through him. He'd had his eyes squeezed shut, but opened them briefly to take in Danny's face. The other man's eyes were wide open but jet black, growls bubbling up from his throat. Part of Steve was taken aback, but the majority of him was even more turned on, bucking up to meet Danny thrust for thrust.

Danny suddenly switched things up, levering Steve's body up so he was more or less in the other man's lap. Steve wailed at the change in angle, the head of Danny's dick smashing into his prostate with every stroke. The euphoria was distorted when Steve felt Danny's teeth sink into his flesh, right where his shoulder curved up into his neck. Hissing, Steve willed himself to stay still even as orgasm was boiling up inside him.

The sharp teeth left his flesh and the sudden release of pressure pushed Steve over the edge; he clenched tightly around Danny and they were both coming, clinging to each other for dear life.

~*~

“That is a _nasty_ bruise, brah,” Chin commented, brows furrowed as he took in the mottled mark on Steve's neck.

“It looks worse than it is,” Steve said, a hand coming up to rub at the spot. Danny had broken the skin enough for it to scar, and he didn't much mind. He had no intention of being with anyone else, so Danny marking him for life seemed like a small concession. “Don't worry about it.”

Chin just shrugged, resuming what he'd been doing at the surface table. Kono and Danny exchanged a look, Danny blushing slightly while Kono smiled triumphantly.

Of course, were things in Danny's life _easy_ , that would've been the end: Steve marked, the house marked, no more Iolana. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Danny awoke one night to what sounded like boar in the yard. Blinking away the haze of sleep, he quietly left the bed and padded out to the upstairs deck, peering over the side. The boar didn't come looking for people, tried their very best to avoid them typically; odd that one was now meandering about in the yard.

Rolling his eyes, Danny shifted into the hawk and swooped down, coasting to land on one of the Adirondack chairs. The pig gave him a cursory glance, grunting.

 _What are you doing here?_ Danny thought, knowing the pig could hear him.

 _I've come to collect,_ Iolana thought in response, her beady black eyes narrowing. _I will have him._

The hawk cawed, an awkward coughing sound; Danny was laughing through the bird's throat. _You're dumber than you look, and I dunno if you noticed, but right now you look like a pig._

 _I'll kill you where you roost,_ Iolana thought angrily, shaking her boar body and opening her mouth to reveal her teeth and tusks better, the moonlight glinting off the hard material.

Danny shifted from the hawk to the Bob Cat, claws digging into the wood. He growled low and deep in his throat. _Try me,_ he growled, muscles coiling tightly beneath his golden fur.

Iolana chose that moment to charge, braying from her pig throat. Danny leapt nimbly from the chair, landing behind Iolana and watching with mild disinterest as she toppled the chair. She whirled on her hooves and charged again, grunting angrily. Truth be told, in this shape she outweighed Danny, but he wasn't too worried; he had ten times the agility as well as lethal claws.

He darted out of the way at the last second, swiping with a large paw. His claws caught in the thick skin, leaving livid red slashes in Iolana's hide. She squealed with rage, tossing her head and digging at the earth with her tusks. Danny bared his teeth and hissed, flexing his claws. The animal part of him was desperately trying to take over, shove his rational human mind to the background. Should he let that happen, he'd fight without any consideration for the human life contained in the shape before him.

He wasn't sure if a Bob Cat could kill a boar, but that wasn't going to stop the cat from trying. If he did kill her, he'd been for a world of trouble; once the life left her, she'd be in the pig shape. The body couldn't shift back once it was dead, and that would cause all sorts of problems.

No, Danny needed to keep his head in the game.

 _I'm only gonna say this once: get the fuck out of my territory, stay away from Steve, or there will be hell to pay,_ Danny growled, shoulders twitching in preparation to strike.

 _You're gonna have to make me_ , Iolana squealed, charging again. Rather than reply, Danny charged as well, large paws covering more ground. All his claws were out, and as Iolana was rearing up to gouge at him with a tusk, he leapt, fangs and claws flashing in the moonlight.

They tussled in the dirt, the pig squealing first with indignation and then with pain, Danny roaring the whole while. It wasn't until a light came on from the lanai and Steve stumbled almost drunkenly outside with a firearm that Iolana finally took the hint and ran, limping into the neighbor's yard.

“What the fuck?!” Steve babbled, eyes wide. He turned his gaze to the gold-tinged Bob Cat sitting in the grass, idly licking it's paws. It gave him a cursory glance, strange blue eyes glinting before it resumed it's clean up. Steve put the safety back on his gun and trudged back up to the house; Danny would come inside when he was done.

~*~

In the weeks following, any time Five-0 had to call an ambulance, Iolana wasn't with the team who arrived. The team didn't comment, though they knew to some degree that Danny had something to do with it. He'd marked the house as his territory, so she wasn't going there anymore, and while Steve had asked what exactly Danny had done to mark the property, the other man refused to tell him.

“It's classified,” he'd said, teasingly. Steve had rolled his eyes; of course it was.

No that he minded, of course. Danny was no longer worrying about errant female shifters – or females in general, for that matter – and the threat of Iolana was gone ever since that night in the yard. Steve hadn't seen the scuffle, but he'd certainly heard it. He quietly hoped Iolana wasn't too badly injured, as Danny managed to come away unscathed. She could be uninjured as long as she never came back.

-FIN-


End file.
